Have you always worked with vintage clothing?
Gill: I’ve worked with fashion brands from the high street to high-end luxury – I was the person hired to help them stand out from how banal and generic fashion was becoming. I was always left frustrated at how creatively risk-averse and wasteful the industry is, so decided to do something myself.
I started Byronesque with our Creative Director, Justin Westover, who has a photography and art background. We’re a good fit to provoke, and hopefully inspire, people to wear things for a long time. Just like Michael, I wanted to partner with passionate experts who care about clothes, the people who designed them, and the stories that come from a different era.
Michael: I studied art history, and most of my research back then was devoted to clothes. When my BA degree was over, I realised I had little going on other than my interest in fashion. I never cared about runway shows [or] iconic press campaigns – it was always about the objects and their design. I think this is what has made ENDYMA’s Helmut Lang archive an interesting resource today – the obsession with details.